Turkiye 'strongly condemns' attack in DR Congo

By Jeyhun Aliyev

ANKARA (AA) - Turkiye on Tuesday "strongly condemned" an overnight attack on a camp for internally displaced people in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo which left at least 14 civilians dead.

"We are deeply saddened to receive the news that many people, including women and children, were killed and many were wounded in the attack carried out by armed groups at the Blakete-Plitu mining site in Ituri Province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo," the Turkish Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

The ministry also extended its condolences to the "friendly" government and people of Congo as well as to the relatives of those who lost their lives and wished a swift recovery to the injured.

Most of the victims were beheaded with machetes, according to local monitoring group Kivu Security Tracker.

It blamed the attack on the Lodda camp, located near the town of Fataki in Ituri’s Djugu region, on “militiamen from the Cooperative for the Development of Congo (CODECO) and the Union of Revolutionaries for the Defense of the Congolese People (URDPC).”

The victims include a DR Congo soldier, said Jules Tsuba, the head of a civil society group in Djugu, adding that seven more people were also wounded.

This is the third refugee camp in Djugu territory to be attacked this year by suspected CODECO militias.

The CODECO militia was also behind the massacre of 52 people at a mining site in Djugu’s Banyali Kilo sector over the weekend, which drew strong condemnation from UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.